During the fighting of a fire, a firefighter works in a very hostile environment. Many firefighter's lose their lives while fighting fires. Most of the deaths of firefighters while fighting fires result from stress, heart attacks, strokes, and the like. Of course, a firefighter must be protected from the environment within which the firefighter works. However, in an attempt to provide adequate protection, the garments of firefighters have been too heavy, too bulky, while also lacking flexibility. Such heavy, bulky, low flexibility garments cause excessive stress within a firefighter who wears the garment.
A firefighter's garment customarily has a plurality of layers of material, including: an outer shell, which is flame resistant and which resists punctures and abrasions, an intermediate layer, which is a moisture barrier, and an inner layer which is a thermal barrier. These layers my be three distinct layers or one or two members. Furthermore any one of the layers may comprise a plurality of layers or sections.
In the past, the inner liner or thermal barrier in a firefighter's garment has been completely one material and the same composition throughout. The materials available for an inner liner of a firefighter's garment vary considerably. As a rule, the more insulative an inner liner is, the more bulky and less flexible is the liner. Therefore, the more bulky a liner is, the more stress is placed upon the firefighter who wears the garment. Conversely, the less insulative material in the inner liner, the less bulky the inner liner is. However, less bulk ordinarily provides less protection. In the past, fire departments have made a choice of liner materials. This choice of a liner material constituted a choice of a liner material for the entire garment. The liner material chosen has been a compromise between the most insulative (the most bulky) material and the least acceptable insulative (the least bulky) material. Thus, a fire department has desired to ensure that the firefighter be provided with good insulation. However, the insulation chosen was often not the best insulation available, since a significant degree of flexibility in the garments was also desired.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,646 the Applicants herein addressed the desirability of mixing liner materials in body parts of firefighter's garments. The invention herein recognizes that portions of a firefighter's garments interface with body parts in which flexibility in movement is a particularly critical need, for example back of knees, front of elbows, etc. These "flexing" areas or portions are flexed during firefighting, since firefighters crouch &o the floor where the temperature is coolest. The liner portions which are flexed bunch during flexing, and the insulative performance is increased in these areas, as compared to the same material in a single unbunched layer. However, increased insulative performance is not required in these areas or portions, and the bunching of heavy material reduces flexibility. Therefore, such flexing portions or interfaced portions of the garments should properly feature insulation material of the least acceptable weight and least bulkiness. Thus, these areas should have the least acceptable insulation. In the past, if the least bulky (least insulative) material should be employed in these body areas, the entire garment would contain the least insulative material, since conventional liners have been entirely of one material.
The invention herein recognizes that many of the portions of a firefighter's garment should have the most insulative (also heaviest, most bulky) material possible. For instance, since a firefighter always frontally approaches the fire in a crouched position, his shoulders, thighs, and back receive a maximum heat load. Those body areas also are not flex areas and do not receive back up protection from another part of the protective envelope. That is, these body areas do not receive back up protection from boots, gloves, etc. In the past, if the most insulative (most bulky) material were used in these maximum heat load body areas, the same heavy bulky insulative material would also be used in body areas in which less bulky material was more optimal.
Therefore, the problem solved in this invention is the creation of a firefighter's protective clothing system which addresses the fact that certain body parts require a high degree of heat insulation, without detriment to the needs of other body parts for maximum flexibility.
It is an object of this invention to provide firefighters' garments which include maximally insulative, heavier liner materials in areas in which maximum insulative protection is required, such as shoulders, back, thighs, etc. Also, an object of this invention is to provide in the same garments, by contrast, lighter, more flexible (hence comparatively less insulative) liner materials in areas in which greater insulation is not required and in areas which are flexed and/or which interface with other protective garments.
It is another object of this invention to provide a firefighter's protective clothing system which is minimally stressful, that is lighter in weight and permitting ease of movement, while being adequately protective.
It is another object of this invention to provide a firefighter's protective clothing system in which the non-varying influence of a firefighter's posture during firefighting is recognized. That recognition relates to the fact that certain body parts face the highest heat loads, and these body parts require greater thermal insulation protection.
Other objects and advantages of this invention reside in the construction of parts, the combination thereof, the method of construction and the method of use, as will become more apparent from the following description.